Musical Mishap
by Fifi Lafleur
Summary: Grissom, Nick and Catherine are singin' the blues over this latest murder.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this.

**Musical Mishap**

**Chapter 1**

Grissom grimly put the phone down and rubbed his sore eyes. The room slowly came back into focus. He tiredly thought, "What next?" He'd just gotten word of another apparent homicide. This made it three cases in just less than a week. He and his crew were still swamped with the other two. Nonetheless, they would have to deal with this one and deal with it quickly.

Brass had just finished instructing him to work on this one personally as it was a high profile case. The deceased was a hot upcoming pop star who had just been announced as one of the three finalists on the hit TV show, _Rock Stars_. Rumors surrounding the murder were already creating quite a stir in the show's Internet chat room.

Grissom called for Nick, Catherine, Warrick and Sara to meet him in his office. When they had all assembled, he began. "There's been another murder. This one happened on the set of _Rock Stars_. Nick, I'll need you and Catherine to come with me. Brass has rated this one top priority. I want you to go over the crime scene and come up with all the evidence that you can possibly find. I'll be right along side you, doing the same. Why don't the two of you get everything that you need organized and I'll meet you outside in ten minutes."

Nick and Catherine nodded, got up and left the office. They were discussing who was going to check the different types of equipment and ensure that it was ready to go. Sara began to protest. Grissom held his hand up to silence her.

He looked over to Warrick and then back to Sara. "I need the two of you to continue to deal with the other two cases. Warrick, you have the Parquet case, and Sara, you've been working on the Marfield one, right?" Warrick and Sara nodded their heads. "Good. You can go. He added, "I'd best get going as well. Brass wants this one solved ASAP." Shaking his head, he added, "The network wants to continue with the show. They insist that 'the show must go on."

Grissom headed outside to where Nick and Catherine were already waiting for him. " All ready to go?" Seeing them both nod, he added, "Good. Let's get going. I'll give you the rest of details on the way over. Nick you drive." The three of them hopped into the SUV and headed over to the crime scene.

On the drive over to the studio, Grissom explained what he knew thus far about the case. "The show's main janitor stumbled upon the body of Dion Marxwall shortly after the taping of the show. He had just finished cleaning the set and was heading off stage when he noticed a bloodied hand sticking out from behind the backdrop, in amongst a bunch of wooden storage boxes. He immediately called 911 and contacted the show's head honchos. Brass told me that sources close to the show were reportedly talking about an altercation that had taken place between Marxwall and two other contestants, previous to the taping of the previous night's episode. There appears to have been some bad blood among these three contestants. At least six of the other contestants are being interviewed, as well as stagehands, other cleaning staff and the judges."

He paused for a moment and then continued. "The two contestants are Angel Canary and Brock Danson. The three of them were seen and heard allegedly arguing over Marxwall's song choice. Canary was heard yelling at Marxwall, accusing him of stealing the lyrics and music score to a song that she had planned to use in that night's episode. She complained that because of this, she had been forced to choose another song at the last minute, and did not perform to the best of her ability. She claimed this was why she didn't make the cut to the final three. Danson was backing her up and a fight ensued. Stagehands had to step in and break up the fight. Motive is definitely here, as Canary was eliminated from the show as of last night's episode, and Danson is in the final three. Oops, I guess final two, although it looks like Ms. Canary may get moved into the finals now that Marxwall is no longer able to sing."

Catherine looked ahead to where they were fast approaching the studio. "Yah, well I don't think that he'll be doing anything else either. Has Brass already interviewed the two of them?"

"As far as I know, replied Grissom, "he was going to do that immediately following his phone call to me. In fact, I see his car right over there. He may still be with them. All righty then, let's go find us a murderer."

The three of them got out of the SUV, grabbed their cases and headed up to the main doors of the studio.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Police officers were controlling the movement in and out of the studio. Grissom, Nick and Catherine flashed their identification to the officers and headed into the building. The familiar looking yellow tape drew the three of them directly to the scene of the crime.

There were numerous stagehands and other studio people milling around. Some of the contestants were in a separate room being interviewed. Grissom approached Brass and enquired, "So, anything new come up since we talked?"

Brass replied, "Not a whole lot. Canary and Danson have just finished giving their statements. I've asked them not to leave yet. The two of them do admit to having had an argument with Marxwall, but they insist that he was still alive when they left. Canary claims that Marxwall had indeed stolen the song that she was going to sing, and that she was very upset about it, thus the confrontation. She blames him for her loss," As he was saying this, he was looking towards the room that contained Angel Canary.

He then continued. "Danson claims that he came upon the heated argument and tried to step in and stop it. Both Marxwall and Canary told him to take a hike. Danson said that he left right after that. I'm just going to go over their statements some more and see if there are any inconsistencies with them, or if I have any more questions for them. I'll touch base with you once I'm done." Brass turned on his heel and left.

Grissom nodded and turned to Nick and Catherine. All right you two, let's see what we can find." Snapping on latex gloves, the three of them went over to where the vic's motionless body lay sprawled behind the set's backdrop. Dion Marxwall was lying on his back, his hands clutched up near his neck. His throat had been slashed open. Blood had gushed out of the wound and seeped into a dark puddle all around his upper body. Spatters of blood could be seen on the wall of the backdrop.

Catherine began to take pictures of the body and the surrounding area. She then put the camera down and began examining the victim more closely. Grissom was carefully examining the hands of the victim.

Meanwhile, Nick had moved over to the wall of the backdrop. He was quietly humming _There's No Business Like Show Business _as he looked more closely at the blood spatter pattern on the wall. Catherine heard the tune and smiled. She turned towards Nick and quipped, "Something tells me that he's not going _to see his billing up in lights_; headlines in the paper maybe…"

Realizing what he had been humming and Catherine's reference to some of its lyrics made Nick stop humming. "Oooh, very funny," he retorted. "Have you found anything interesting yet?"

"Actually, I think I have. I found a piece of paper, balled up, and next to the body. It looks like there are some lyrics written on it. There's lipstick on his cheek too. That's it so far. What about you?" Catherine looked questioningly at Nick. While she waited for his response, she picked up the camera and took pictures of the paper and the lipstick. She then grabbed a lab swab, swabbed the lipstick, and sealed the sample in the plastic container.

"Well, from the pattern of the blood spatter, Marxwall was obviously standing when the attack took place. It looks like he staggered from further behind the set up to this spot where he finally succumbed to the loss of blood." As he was speaking, Nick was pointing to the trail of blood on the floor and the spatter on the walls. Catherine followed and continued to snap pictures. Nick's eyes came to rest near Marxwall's lifeless body. Something shiny caught his eye. "Now what do we have here?" he muttered.

Reaching down, he moved some of the splintered wood from the smashed storage boxes and stared at the shiny, but blood covered object. He motioned for Catherine to come over. She did, and snapped another picture. He bent over and carefully picked it up with his gloved hands. "I think that I may have found the murder weapon. It looks like a letter opener. Pretty fancy handle. Upon examining it closer, Nick noticed a smudged print on the handle. "Bingo! A partial print." He carefully placed the letter opener in a paper bag, sealed it and then labeled it.

Grissom had been listening in on the conversation. "Good work Nick," he interjected. "You too, Cath. There's definitely something here under his finger nails. It could be skin. You two finish up here. I'm going to touch base with Brass and see what other songs our two main contestants have sung for him." And with that parting comment, Grissom headed for the room where he had seen Brass enter, only moments ago.


End file.
